Scene #7317: The Blaze of Ifrit

Owner	Pose
Gawain	SOUTHERN THANALAN - ZANR'AK EARLY EVENING The heat is sweltering. The sun is still in the sky, even though it's beginning to set, and the desert sand is exceedingly warm to the touch. But that's all able to be ignored, for something more important is occuring. The red cliffs that the group walks among provide no shelter from the heat, as the canyons underneath threaten a perilous drop, with rickety wooden platforms and bridges serving as walkways. Their contact, Hoary Boulder, is supposed to be up near the perimeter of the Zanr'ak, where they are bringing the merchant band deeper in. The Amalj'aa, if seen through binoculars or just from afar, are bipedal, with probable descent from lizards. They are large, dark-skinned, and carrying spears and bows. The tempered are normal humanoids, ranging from 'clearly human', to 'clearly elven', to 'bulky humanoid', to even 'child-sized adults'. There's almost two dozen of them spread out, several dragging off the merchant band with the Amalj'aa, and the others... Well, let's just say, Hoary Boulder seems to have gotten a bit impatient. The bulky dark-skinned, red-haired Roegaedyn in shining armor wielding a sword and shield is slashing his way through tempered and Amalj'aa, but is Clearly Outnumbered and clearly going to get his butt kicked if he's not supported."Ahaha! This was a mistake!" It's unclear who he means it was a mistake for, as he's laughing a bit frantically, sword slashing again. If they want to get inside to stop Ifrit, they'll have to give Hoary Boulder some aid.
Cordelay Levail	A clear, bell-like laugh sounds from the edge of the battleground as Cordelay joins the fray, blades flashing as she tears through tempered and Amalj'aa like a steel tempest. Despite her laughter, however, her expression remains calm - a mask that betrays nothing of her inner thoughts. She is a living engine of carnage with the poise of one practically raised on the battlefield, and there is a savage grace in the way she fights. One of her vicious blows ends with her kicking off an Amalj'aa's head as the beastman falls, landing gracefully at Hoary Boulder's side as her twin swords lash out at the surrounding foes. "Remain strong. Cordelay Levail, the daughter of the Dragon, stands with you! Ours is the path to victory!"
Vergil	In spite of the burning heat and the lack of shade, Vergil seems completely unaffected. His perfectly quaffed hair does not flatten or plaster to his scalp at all. Is he even sweating, under that jacket and all those layers? If he is, he's not showing it. As their contact comes into view, currently being swarmed by huge lizards and tempered of all shapes and sizes, Vergil places a finger to his forehead and shakes it. "Honestly. What is he doing?" He lowers his stance, hand hovering over the handle of that katana he keeps clutched at his side before vanishing in a flurry of blue, appearing above Hoary's head and coming down on his attacks with a sharp descent, and even sharper quickdraw. "Get out of the way, fool," he says to the Roe, before an aura of sword appear around him. The blue spectral weapons begin whirling around Vergil like a buzzsaw as he walks into the crowd. He even specifically makes it move up and down so as to catch the small tempered.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone has heard they would have to deal with something that smells a lot like certain things she's fought the minions of in the past. Given the level of the threat? Kotone has brought the heavy artillery. A hulking machine suit which might be equated by the locals as some kind of M-tek armour or something along those lines. The ARMED Suit was loaded with some kind of large canon that was it's rifle and Kotone seemed ready to go. Seeing the fix Hoary is in? Will make Kotone spring into acting, her ARMED suit cloaks for the moment as it goes in, and she will move to engaged them and remain cloaked while it does so, the auto canon made more often for fighting others like it. Which is now turned on the tempered.
Damocles	Lava-spewing crags, blistering heat, demons and entranced humans...turn the sky purple and this place would feel downright homey to Damocles, dread Chaos Sorcerer. Damocles has had an interest in the way aether flows in Eorzea for a little while now, prompted partly because he was paid to do some research here, and partly because his patron suggested that this place held some kind of important secret. Of course, whenever you study aether here, it's going to inevitably lead you to the Primals. Unfortunately for Damocles, as if often the case, his SPESS MARINE HEUG makes navigating the narrow, dangerous paths a little difficult. His staff actually has to pull double-duty as a walking staff today, using it to help balance himself so he doesn't fall into the fiery abyss below, while the rickety bridges aren't even attempted; he just teleports across the gaps. The entire time, he sings a local folk song about scaling cliffs. The theme of the song is moving ever upwards, which is kind of wishful thinking at the moment. When he sees their contact in a fight with the locals, he sighs softly. "Of course they're fighting." Well, he didn't come here to play Triple Triad with Ifrit (He doesn't even have the Ifrit card yet), so time for violence. Though direct violence isn't Damocles's opening move. First, he stops when he sees the battle, and raises his staff. A brief haze of violet energy forms around his staff, and then fades. Meanwhile, as the haze of energy fades out, a new wreath of energy forms around the blade of Hoary Boulder. The energy crackles across the blade like violet lightning, crackling and sparking in rhythmic pulses, allowing the blade to cleave through rock, metal and flesh with virtually no resistance.
Cantio	News of hostages and destructive god summoning is already enough to get Cantio to arrive in the deserts of Thanalan to lend her assistance. She's a bit late on arrival, though, having been distracted at the markets if the multiple swords in a sack slung over her shoulder are any indication. She even appears to be tapping away at a tablet on the way to the designated meeting spot, although her attention soon shifts to the fighting at hand once Hoary Boulder's giant frame comes into view. "A mis...? Ah! H-hold on!" She shouts towards the sword and boarder, breaking into a sprint while drawing a pair of her newly bought swords to bear. One gets flung at one of the tempered nearest the mission contact, and the other gets swung like... Well, a sword. Cantio handles it deftly, focusing on getting Hoary Boulder some breathing room with rapid slashes and an errant laser beam here and there. Once there's sufficient space, she shifts to a more recovery-focused strategy, trying to patch up the Roe and her allies when she can. "What's the situation here? I thought you were... Um. Going to meet us nearby, not in the middle of fighting!"
S6	Admist armor and weapons and the like is the android S6, clad instead in a silk-like black dress and tall boots. The ever-present visor conceals her eyes, feeding her information gleaned from the boxy POD floating silently beside her. All kinds of information scrawls across her HUD; from local temperature and humidity readings all the way to nearby bio-signs and magical surveys. Though her POD isn't as fine-tuned as I4's, S6 will still use everything she can get. S6 is also not fighting with her weapons right now. Her contributions are minor, largely through the VRCS. Intercepting an arrow here, wrenching a spear into the ground instead of its target there. With her eyes covered, only the tension in her jaw could possibly betray how she feels about this. Then again, she's the one who insists androids do not have emotions. So maybe she's just intensely focused on the mission.
Gawain	A group of heroes swarm into the fray. Right as a tempered Roe is about to smash Hoary Boulder's head in, she looks up to see the group approaching on her target, and is then staggered back as Cordelay leaps into the fray, kicks off one of the Amalj'aa, and the tempered is struck down by Vergil's downward slash. Straightening himself up as the others fight, Boulder cheers, and then jumps back into the action, as an autocannon blasts them from out of nowhere (due to cloaking making it impossible to track Kotone), as a lightning-surged blade slices through Amalj'aa and tempered alike, and as Cantio's swords strike through, her healing being much appreciated by their Roe ally. Those taking the merchants leave them behind to try and join in and help their allies, but are sundered just the same. Once their enemies have fallen or been routed, in the case of some of the Amalj'aa pulling back to regroup, Boulder salutes. "Hoary Boulder, with the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. You were taking a mighty long time, and the merchants were getting dragged off towards the summoning chambers, so I took it upon myself to leap into the fray and rescue them. I appreciate the support." And then, his face goes grim, as he gestures to the now-rescued merchants. "While these people are now safe, they have more captives inside, who are likely to be tempered in the process. I've got a rough map of the tunnels you'll need to take, but it's not exact." He pulls it out of his patch and hands it over to S6, who appears to be Scouting. Her sensors will detect mass amounts of aetheric energy deep inside, building by the moment. "I'll escort these fine folk to safety, but will be available over linkpearl. Hurry and save the day. May the Twelve be with you!" Hoary Boulder splits up, and as the group follows the map, they're beset by Amalj'aa archers and their arrows. Ranged attacks will take them out handily, but eventually, the group will have to push on instead of fighting, and force their way into the domain. They're deep, and the pathways aren't. Those who can sense magic, aetheric energy, or the like, or who are doing exact scans, can navigate with the help of the map, and find their way into a wider open area, outside of the caves. The heat here is sweltering, and there's a stockpile of crystals laid about, as well as many Amalj'aa with 'sacrifices'. They're not being threatened physically, so the sacrifices must mean they're going to be tempered like the rest. The Amalj'aa begin chanting, as one, clearly a shaman of some sort, steps forward.
Gawain	"Lord of the Inferno, hearken to our plea! Lord of the Inferno, deliver us from our misery!" As the others chant, the heat suddenly rises, as do the aetheric levels, right as the group finally makes it close. A massive sphere blots out the sun from this angle, a sphere of pure flame, which bursts outwards, revealing the beast inside. A black scaled demon, with two orange-tipped horns, several orange-tipped spikes on his back, and mighty claws, suddenly bursts into the air, ignites it in an explosive show of force, and lands on the ground as motes of ash rain down around him. Ifrit stretches out, as the captives squirm further under the soles of their captors, and looks over to the shaman. "O, mighty Ifrit! We bring before You ignorant savages who do not understand Your godhead! If it pleases You, Lord, cleanse their heathen souls with Your purifying flame, so that they may know your true greatness!" Ifrit roars, and then speaks. His voice is awful to listen to, like a volcano rumbling. "Pitiful children of man! By my breath be claimed!" "Arise once more as my loyal minions! Feed my flames with your faith, and all who stand against us shall be burned!" Even if it may not be a problem for them, it is lucky the group is out of the way at this exact moment, because his mouth awashes with blue flames, and he bursts them out towards the Amalj'aa and the captives, bathing them in the fire. It does not burn them. Instead, after the blinding flames die down, the Amalj'aa suddenly begin to untie the captives with their spears. The captives begin to kneel, praying. "O mighty Ifrit, Lord of the Inferno!" The Amalj'aa move to spread out... This is the group's chance to strike. They'll be noticed any second now.
S6	The wave of blue flame is weathered by S6 through slamming the larger of her two swords down. The slash wave cuts a gap in the onslaught of magic flames, sparing her the effects. But as she rises from the strike, the sword flipping up of its own accord to float beside her, she rests her shielded gaze upon those who had been captured within the effect. Now the displeasure is pretty clear on her face, even with her eyes concealed. Her gaze snaps to the Primal itself, scanning it over with the POD's sensors. Near as she can tell, it's all mana. An alert crops up on the MCS about a possible Null Zone formation, which she shunts to the corner immediately. The smaller of S6's paired swords disappears in a flurry of golden sparks, replaced with a large crescent-bladed axe. But it is the greatsword katana that remains in her hands when she springs into action; vaulting right over the Amal'jaa trying to block the party. S6 lands in a roll, digs her toes in, and hurls herself straight into the Bowl of Embers. Her charge is announced by her POD, which snaps its sides open, leading S6's attack with a flurry of small homing missiles all targeting the demonic Eikon.
Damocles	Traveling through the pass while under fire is not as big a deal for Damocles as some others. Using barrier magic helps take the brunt of the arrows hurled at him, and making progress while fighting is easily done for him, on account of his ability to rapidly teleport. Any time the group finds itself pinned down, Damocles flashes forward in a burst of violet fire, repositioning instantly further ahead and unleashing torrents of clear blue lightning and bright violet flame to scatter their foes. He doesn't have any ice, though. Guess he'll be 100% burn-phase. When they pass the stacks of crystals, Damocles reaches down to pick one up and pocket it for later. These kinds of crystals can be found all over, but waste not, want not. He picks a blue one, because he chose his magic faction and, damn it, he'll stick with it. Watching the Tempering process is very educational, so he makes a point to take careful notes, both on what he sees physically and magically. The process is much like Chaos corruption except in reverse; Artificial bonds instead of shattering real ones. No wonder Tzeentch like this place. Or hates it and wants it destroyed. It's always hard to tell with the Architect of Fate. One thing Damocles knows for sure, though: They just failed in their mission to save the merchants. They all just got tempered. That Harry Boulder guy probably isn't going to pay them for this job now. That irks Damocles a tad. Enough so that he teleports down onto the level of Ifrit, a respectable couple dozen yards away, and raises his staff. "Listen up you discount daemonette! You may have just scrotched the people we were here to rescue, but....WYRDFIRE!" Damocles swings his staff, and from it, three orbs of perfect spherical violet flame are thrown out. The flame isn't actual fire, but is pure Warp energy; A shifting ball of entropy and chaos that flies towards Ifrit one at a time, spinning through the air in unpredictable patterns before striking the Primal.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone knows they all have to act and that there can be no mercy, with Hoary Boulder rescued from ending up dead or worse. She'll heed what he has to say a she pushes on the group follows the map. She will take shots at the archers as they go. Kotone doesn't seem to be having any hesitation here. She owes Mr. Boulder a drink later for getting the hostages the heck out of harm's way. Leaving things far easier for them to deal with things but it seems they didn't get all the hostages out. She sees the summoning there's nothing that can be done. Ifrit is a major threat to be sure but the ritual leader catches Kotone's attention. They know how to do this, they know how to bring their god into the material world. They might take off as the fight starts up, and start this all over again in the future. So as she makes her move she lines up a shot on the ritual leader, in her mind this is a case of shoot the gunman, not the gun. She will then open up with a spray of rounds.
Cantio	"Cantio, of Cadenza. Pleased to meet you, Mister Boulder." With that greeting and brief introduction finished, she slips that sword back into her sack and listens closely as he explains the situation. It sounds like a straightforward enough search-and-rescue with a time limit, and she's already on the move again by the time the group's marching orders are issued. The advance through the Amalj'aa's archers has Cantio working double-time to shoot them down. Quite literally, even, as she wields a pair of swords and holds them sidways as she launches yet more lasers through them rather than engaging the archers at close range. She makes sure to keep safely behind Cordelay and Vergil, wary of something about the two of them enough that she doesn't appear to want to get anywhere in front of them at all. Kotone's cannons and Damocles' staff, in comparison, appear safer to stand beside, but S6's POD... Cantio takes a moment to snap a picture of that with her tablet. Upon reaching the main chamber, Cantio doesn't have much prep time before heat engulfs the room. Grimacing uncomfortably from the sudden rise in temeprature, Cantio eyes the swords in her hands before gasping at the sight of the captives being engulfed and.... They're fine. Physically, anyway. Mentally, she's not quite so sure with the words coming out of them and their body language. "How gruesomely literal..." She murmurs to nobody in particular while removing the sack of swords and just tossing it behind her, the sack disappearing and being replaced with a rather tech-y looking handle. Instead of joining in the assault on Ifrit, however, Cantio takes a bit of a detour to focus on the tempered captives. Light bursts out of the handle into the form of a translucent purple blade, and she gets to work slicing up the nearest Amalj'aa. She doesn't spend much time on any particular Amalj'aa, though, instead prioritizing those closest to the captives. "Come this way! You'll be safer over here!" She warns said captives before moving in close to try and physically drag them out of the line of fire, taking to Vergil's directions rather quickly.
Cordelay Levail	Close confines with enemies to cut through with all speed - the battle in the tunnels is right up Cordelay's alley. Her battlefield experience lends itself well to the task, and she takes it upon herself to carve a path for her allies. Inside the ritual chamber, she witnesses the tempering and her stoic mask cracks for just a moment, a glint of fury lighting up her emerald eyes. "We will save the rest of these people. This Lord of the Inferno is about to be burned itself." Taking advantage of her allies' attacks, Cordelay charges with all her nearly-inhuman speed directly toward the Primal with her blades shining in the firelight. She kicks off an Amalj'aa and leaps at Ifrit, slinging one of her sword-chains toward a horn in an attempt to ensnare it and swing around via her inertia. The motion would hopefully carry her to a vantage point atop the Primal's head - perfect for thrusting her blades into its eyes. Even for a born warrior like Cordelay this motion is fierce and brutal, devoid of grace. Its the way of a killer, not a soldier. Going by the way her neutral expression has shattered into one of rage, she's enjoying it.
Vergil	Vergil barely pauses to listen to Hoary, only slowing his pace enough that he can hear the large man over his shoulder. Archers that fire upon him only find their arrows split mid-flight by Vergil's own return fire. Summoned swords fired to intercept the arrows and also pierce the skulls of the attackers. Upon entering the burning hot cavern, Vergil seems to move by pure instinct. Following the heat towards the source maybe? Either way, he arrives at the source of the ritual. Watching intently as Ifrit is summoned, spreading flame and ash. He doesn't seem in as much of a hurry as the others through, walking slowly towards the primal with a confident smirk on his face. "Worshipping a demon as a god? That sounds familiar," he says, works cutting through the shimmering air like a knife. "Though I do agree, Ifrit. Men are foolish. So perhaps you might like to contend with me instead?" He's gone, crossing the distance between himself and the fiery demon in an instant, Yamato laashing out in a whirling slash aimed at his forelegs, before being brought up in a spiralling slashed aimed at taking the primal's head by severing his neck.
Gawain	As the shaman chants, he's capped in the head by a surprise blast, and shot down. He is probably not their only shaman, but this is going to be a problem for the Amalj'aa, as his body crumples to the ground. The other Amalj'aa come in and start firing arrows at Kotone, the cyborg being harried into the direction of Ifrit so she can receive 'punishment'. Damocles is able to grab a crystal - they're mostly being drained of aether, as Ifrit consumes them to exist. He blasts Wyrdfire at Ifrit, each orb impacting in the Primal's body, as missiles follow through. He's tough, physically, as Cordelay moves to come up and try and stab him in the eye. A hand suddenly jerks out, intercepting, as her blade strikes it, cutting into the demonic god before he moves to throw her backwards. The Amalj'aa are sliced up, but as Cantio lets her guard down around the tempered, one of them grabs a fallen spear and moves to try and jab it into her back. "Kill the heretic!" The woman cries out, as the others move to try and grab weapons and join on their assault. They appear to be too far gone. Vergil speaks to Ifrit directly. Ifrit snorts, and then stretches his claws out, as the blade slices across his forelegs, dealing noticeable damage and pushing him back, but as it comes for his neck, two things happen. First, a claw moves to intercept the blade - it slices into a fingernail, splitting part of it but deflecting the blow away from chopping off his head, as Ifrit huffs, and blasts a burst of fire at everyone in direct frontal melee range - which is at least S6, Vergil, and Cordelay. The other hand slams into the ground, as a fiery crack forms in the ground underneath Damocles. If he doesn't move quickly, it's gonna explode in a burst of fire under his feet. "Insolence. Witness the blaze of Ifrit!"
Cordelay Levail	Cordelay seethes as her blade is intercepted, a barely-audible hiss escaping from between her teeth while her eyes quickly scan the cavern for a protrusion to wrap a chain around. The flame blast cuts her short, however, and she abandons that plan to drop through the blaze and roll to extinguish the small bits of her clothing that ignited. "Bastard..." Cordelay snarls, rising to her feet. Seeing Vergil and S6 dealing with Ifrit and Cantio's struggles with the tempered, she grits her teeth and rushes toward the latter. "Lady Cantio, hold on!" She shouts before barreling into the tempered, taking out her frustrations and rage with every cut and thrust. Her strikes are much more merciful than when she was attacking Ifrit, less brutal and more focused on cutting down the brainwashed victims with as much speed as possible. "Are you alright?" She asks her comrade as she fights, casting a glance to Cantio as she visibly calms, the anger fading from her face as her discipline reasserts itself.
Damocles	Damocles looks down at the cracks that appear under his feet. His face is shrouded in shadow, but his eyes take on a slightly concerned arch. "Hmm, that's probably not good." A moment later, the fire explodes underneath him. About 20 meters away, Damocles watches the explosion. He's charred and damaged, having taken the initial blast before managing to teleport away, but between his magical barriers and his armor, the damage isn't too considerable right now. His eyes have a slightly more annoyed arch to them as he looks back to Ifrit. "Okay then. You like fire? Well how about THIS FIRE?!" Damocles holds out his staff, and channels a surge of Warp energy through the item. The Warp power fills him, passes through his staff, and is shaped underneath the feet of Ifrit. Much like what Ifrit did to him, small cracks appear in the ground. A moment later, a massive pillar of crackling cyan lightning erupts from the ground, a powerful, dancing arc of lightning that flashes for a moment, the deep red light of the lava blended with a cold blue flash. Damocles, meanwhile, shrugs a little. "What? Lightning is 'the cold fire'. I heard that somewhere, once."
S6	Mid-charge, S6 is wreathed in flames. When she emerges, the edges of her skirt are scorched, her leading arm blackened, but overall she still functions. Jets of steam hiss from the hem of her dress, venting a small amount of superheated coolant. But this has not stopped her advance. The android drops suddenly into a slide, scooting right between Ifrit's legs. Her heels dig in, arresting the remainder of her momentum and, by bending her knees, she springs herself upward in the opposite direction. Her body twists to face the demonic Primal once more, both hands supporting the o-dachi Virtuous Oath as she brings it up with her. The line it traces is a vicious upward-arcing cleave, her intent to work with Vergil by standing opposite of his own position to divide the monster's attention.
Cantio	Unfortunately for Cantio, she's caught unaware by that spear in the back, and she cries out in pain atliterally getting sabbed in the back. She doesn't go down from just that, though, as her survival instincts take over andshe jerks forward to get away from the thing stabbing her. "Wha... I-I'm here to help you! Your..." Wincing as she keeps her feet moving and her eyes on the tempered captives, she can hear the battle with Ifrit underway, and things quickly become more complicated from that in conjunction with the flames bellowing out nearby the Primal. "... Your minds are already gone, aren't they? Then before you can do anything regrettable..." Steeling herself, Cantio sighs as she slides her hand across the surface of her weapon and nods at Cordelay. "I'm fine. But they..." She winces slightly as Cordelay moves to cut down the captives, eventually following her lead. The girl in purple steps forward once before launching herself right past the closest group of tempered captives, flipping over the group and spinning around to point her tech-sword right at them with Ifrit on the other side. "The least we can do is make it painless." A laser fires out of the tip of her weapon, advancing for only a moment before splitting into an array of lasers, all seeking the heads and chests of the tempered before zeroing in on Ifrit directly. Her landing isn't quite so deft, however, as she lands right on her spear wound with a pained yelp complete with awful scraping noises.
Kotone Yamakawa	There are likely others but there's one less now, Kotone's armour starts to move as the arrows start raining down upon her. The ARMED suit is taking shots while mundane arrows are not an issue for the armour. These arrows? Likely have magically charged or have ones mixe into it a few get caught in several joins another one wedges in the armour leaving some issues. Which might affect her response times. Kotone will turn her weapon on the so-called god. Even as she's driven towards the Primal. She'll take a moment and make up her mind to bring her gun to bear on the massive nightmare. She'll fire but does not get into melee just /yet/. It would limit her options pretty seriously to do so.
Vergil	Yamato clangs against Ifrit's great claws, sinking in but failing to penetrate. "Good. I'd hate for this to be over so soon." His maw opens and flames billow out, seemingly consuming the man. But his blade sings, whirling at improbable speeds before him to make the fire part around him. He is singed however, skin turning red and then immediately smoothing over, leaving him infuriatingly unharmed. "Is this the extent of your flames? I promise you, hell burns far hotter." He eyes S6 sliding under the primal, Damocles creating cracks beneath it, and suddenly moves. Leaping between his gear horns, Vergil runs along Ifrit's back, minding not his boots burning as Yamato flashes over and over to cut deep gouges in the fiery god. With each gut, a spectral sword appears in the air above, point hanging down like multiple blades of Damocles. As he leaps off, his foot meets with S6's upswing, and he uses it to launch himself higher, sailing over the ghostly swords as they plunge down on Ifrit in unison, aiming to hold him in place as Damocles' spell resolves. And to cap it off, he arrests all momentum to come back down before Ifrit once more, swinging Yamato down with both hands to slash his face.
Gawain	The tempered are, while loyal to Ifrit, no match for the combined powers of Cordelay and Cantio, who mercifully strike them down and end their short subservience. Their spears clang to the ground, as Ifrit doesn't even pay them any mind. Lightning surges underneath Ifrit, and he is sent reeling back only momentarily before heavy, massive claws move to sweep out at Damocles. Lasers and bullets fire from Cantio and Kotone, but Ifrit mostly ignores them, despite the clear damage they're doing. It's the dual slash of S6 and Vergil that really gets his attention. "Thy will is strong. But no matter. Face the fires of Hell!" Ifrit claws S6, moving to send her flying backwards if possible, while several nail-like spears drop from the sky, red-hot to the touch. They just sit there, ominously. Those with auras get Bad News vibes about them, but they don't appear indestructible. Ifrit rubs his hand against the massive cleave on his face, and turns to Vergil. "Silence! I shall teach respect." Ripping a nail out of the ground, Ifrit moves to suddenly impale it straight into Vergil's stomach with a rapid thrust. "You never stood a chance." Cracks appear underneath Cordelay, Kotone, and Cantio. More fiery explosions are coming!
S6	S6 is swatted like a cat swats a crinkle ball, the impact sending her sailing amidst a spray of ichorous red oil laced with glowing blue material. She bounces twice before landing on her feet, arresting the remainder of her momentum by digging her sword into the cracked soil of the chamber. Alerts spring up across her vision, which she quickly dismisses. One hand clutches her side as she rises, then draws away to smear the blood-like substance between her fingertips. - ALERT. MANA BATTERY RUPTURE. VRCS OPERATION WILL CEASE IN 60 SECONDS. - - CAUTION. MANA CONCENTRATION DETECTED. LEVELS APPROACHING UNSAFE MARGIN. - It's the POD's alert that pulls her out of this moment of distraction, her shielded gaze snapping up to Ifrit, then to the objects that have been strewn about. She discards her sword, and it floats itself back into position behind her. Reaching out, she attempts to seize the nearest Infernal Nail using her Variable Range Combat System, the same device that controls her own weapons as floating attack bits. The attempt is to wrench it from the ground and fire it into Ifrit like a javelin.
Cordelay Levail	The shift in the situation gives Cordelay pause for just a moment before the cracking ground forces her hand. Grabbing Cantio's arm she attempts to drag her away from the impending attack before going on the offensive once more, this time keeping her distance as she swings one of her swords by the chain to cut at one of Ifrit's hands, using her sword like an edged flail. That first strike is nothing more than a diversion, however, as the other sword is swung at another angle at a familiar target - attempting to rake across the Primal's eye with her blade. Even if her ploy fails, she at least hopes to create an opening for her allies.
Damocles	The slashing claws of Ifrit finds Damocles prepared this time. His staff raised and his stance already prepared for an attack, he brings the Eye of Tzeentch up defensively to intercept the clawing attacks. Force Staff strikes against primal claws in a flash of sparks and flame, Damocles swinging the staff aggressively forward every time Ifrit claws at him. It's a highly aggressive, overpowering combat style, relying on his size and strength to clash against the demonic attacks. The Chaos Sorcerer has a few options here, and briefly considers his options. The Primal is a creature of aether, not of flesh. Infecting its mind with Warp energy could have unpredictable results. More likely though, it wouldn't have much of an effect here, and being pressed heavily by physical attacks, Damocles opts for a more direct approach. "You seem a little testy, Ifrit. Here, have a snack!" With one hand, he holds his staff defensively, looking to clash with the demon and tie up Ifrit's flaws with the staff. His other hand snaps out the aether crystal he had collected earlier. He holds this in his fist like a dagger, and brings it down in a hammer-blow, aiming to stab the blue-colored aether crystal straight into the eye socket of the primal.
Cantio	After finally getting back up on her feet with Cordelay's assistance, Cantio takes note of the various strategies at play. She's not quite sure how Damocles' logic works, but it certainly looks like it's better than using actual fire against the fire monster. Kotone's gunfire and her own lasers don't appear to be doing quite as well, or at the very least... They're not getting the Primal's attention quite as well as the swordplay right in its face. S6's teamwork with Vergil is already giving the Candidate ideas as she readies her blade once more, ignoring the blood seeping down her back and staining her otherwise white outfit. The spectral swords give her yet more ideas, but she can't act on them just yet as Ifrit's nail-spears scatter around the battlefield, inadvertently drawing her attention to the cracks appearing on the ground even as she's pulled along. Were these caused by Ifrit or Damocles? She can't quite tell, but she's already seen the warning signs earlier from both of them. "Get off the cracks before they explode!" She shouts in warning before sprinting away from the cracks closest to herself, then abruptly dives sideways upon realizing she was running headlong into another set of cracks. "Th... That could have gone better." Singed terribly and still smoing from the flames, Cantio stabs her sword into the ground to steady herself as she starts churning out some healing magic towards her allies. Someone has to fill the role of the healer, and she might as well do it while her own plan starts to come together. "If it still only has the one set of eyes, then..." As Cantio keeps pelting each person with small bursts of healing magic with one hand, she reaches into the nothing in front of her with the other hand. She draws out a handful of cubes along with that sack of swords from earlier, then starts smashing them together at a rapid pace and forming swords with cubes attached to them. She just needs to figure out how to properly utilize this.
Kotone Yamakawa	Things are getting more on the crazy side with Ifrit as the Primal is opening up with more power and while her Armour is good? She could still be cooked inside regardless their need to be handled and handled find. The Primal bellows about making them show respect. She might have had some snarky comment, once. Now she says nothing as she sees there's about to be more problems. This will be a big enough blast to mess her up and likey anyone near her. She will be forced to move, thus losing her good line of sight on the Primal. She'll lunge for one of the nails and attempt to grab it with three of her suits four arms and try to break it. Shes' got a really bad feeling about this thing. She will be also open to attack while she attempts this...
Vergil	Vergil sheathes his sword lovingly upon landing his slash. "Respect is earned Ifrit. Earn mine." He pays no mind to the nails, considering them foci of some sort, or akin to his own summons swords. So for Ifrit to take one and bring it down on him catches him off-guard. The smell of burning flesh fills the air as Vergil yells, the nail cooking him from inside-out and outside-in. Such traumatic injury would kill most men quickly. And as his yells fall silent, it seems for a second like it might have. But he lives still. From his pinned position, Vergil gets his legs under him and begins to awkwardly push himself up off the ground. His hand reaches out to grab the nail and pull his head up so he can glare viciously at the primal. "Very well Ifrit. /Now/ you have my respect." A blue clap of lightning euprs from Vergil's body, and the nail explodes. Where Vergil stood, a demon stands. Blue and black, with short thick silver horns and an organic sheath housing Yamato jutting from his left arm. He speaks gutturally as he takes on a stance, bending his legs with one hand hovering over Yamato's grip. Blue light clashes with red flame as demonic power issues from Vergil's form, marking an area as his domain. "You shall die." He's gone. And the world splits. Impossibly thin lines trace the air, causing it to split and splinter like a broken screen. Every nail is carved. Ifrit and every Amalj'aa and tempered is sliced over and over. Those fighting alongside Vergil are only narrowly missed.
Gawain	Kotone and S6 focus on the nails. One explodes as Kotone crushes it with melee DPS, while the other is thrown directly into Ifrit's face, piercing it, right as Damocle's crystal also pierces Ifrit's eye, and Cordelay slashes the opposite one, blinding him. The nail embedded in Ifrit's face explodes, causing a pained howl for the first time in the fight. Cantio's forming a sword cube, and healing people over the pain. Ignoring Vergil, Ifrit is about to target her down, when he twitches and returns, exploding the nail in his body, forming into a demon form. "Hah...you are stronger than I thought!" Ifrit shouts, still angry, as Vergil's slashes appear across the battlefield. Every Amalj'aa remaining is dead. Sundered into pieces. Ifrit is slashed up, but his body refuses to split, the crystals left rapidly being gorged to nothing. The nails explode, buffeting the battlefield. "NOW, PERISH!" Fiery cracks appear around the entire battlefield. There's no avoiding them this time. When they explode, it's not a momentary burst, but a full-on pillar of flame. The flames are hot, extraordinarily hot. Yet, not hot enough to incinerate. The nails have been destroyed - a foci, as Vergil suspected, empowering the attack. Without them? It's simply mild burns, enough to be healed through. Ifrit growls in anger, roaring, and then, suddenly, leaps up. When he hits the ground again, there's three of him, apparently. In succession, they begin charging straight across the battlefield, blindly wailing at anyone in their path with those claws. It's wild and messy, but sure to do heavy damage if it hits. The last ditch attack... It's time to finish it.
Cordelay Levail	Cordelay smirks from her successful strike, only to be transfixed by Vergil's own skill with the sword. As the surrounding foes are cut to ribbons, that smirk turns to a full smile. "Very impressive, Lord Vergil! Such magnificent swordplay!" She calls over the din of battle, yanking her sword-chains to pull the blades back to her hands. Then the pillar of flame erupts, the heat of the Primal's rage searing her. Her burns aren't serious despite the heat, however, and she gazes up at the leaping Ifrit with hard eyes. "The Dragon's daughter fears no fire." She says to herself as the three Ifrits come crashing back to the battlefield and she places herself directly in one's path. Leveraging her athleticism to its fullest, Cordelay leaps into the air once more, swinging her chains to wrap around the charging beast and pull herself through the air with the force of the charge. With a mighty pull on her chains she attempts to slingshot herself toward the back of Ifrit's head and bury her swords in the back of its neck for a crippling, if not hopefully fatal, blow. "Die, you wretched monster!"
Cantio	Cantio raises her light sword in front of her as an impromptu shield against the flames, gritting her teeth in pain as the fire bathes the battlefield, and there's a particularly bright flash of light centered on her, looking as though as she might have been incinerated in the pillar. The flames and the lingering light die down, but there's no charred corpse or pile of ashes there. Instead, Cantio is still standing! "Th... That was close... So this is what these Primals can do..." She's still singed just about everywhere and having trouble standing, but still distinctly alive as she pushes herself up with her light sword. Her outfit appears to have changed from the usual fabric-y cloth to something distinctly more plastic/metallic, her eyes have turned a brighter shade of blue from their usual purple, and even her light sword has grown both in girth and length. With that (relatively) massive array of cube-holding swords nearby, Cantio moves on to the next step of her plan. Taking to the sky to avoid the brunt of the charging Ifrits' rending claws, she proceeds to hurl the whole lot of sword cubes around the trio haphazardly, each one hovering around each Primal body and spinning steadily at a fixed height. None of them slash or stab at any of the Ifrits, however, and it becomes quickly apparent that Cantio's plan doesn't involve that at all. Instead, she's charging ahead directly with her purple blade trailing behind her. " Now! Give it everything you've got!" The swordcubes start chiming rapidly as the sounds of rapidly descending metal coalesce on the Ifrits, barraging the Primal with a rain of... Nothing! Nothing? Nothing. The swords remain where they are, but they definitely sound like they're moving. It's a ploy, of course, to draw Ifrit's direction in different directions as Cantio moves in for her real attack: Darting around each Ifrit at high speeds, utilizing her light-sword in one hand and swapping between those floating blades with the other. She pays no attention to the mounting burns and slashes digging into her, focusing instead on trying to beat down the last of the Primal's stamina before her own gives out. Each weapon's durability is also ignored by the Candidate, content as she is to swing them once with all her might before grabbing the next and stabbing it in only to switch to yet another sword seconds later. By the time Cantio reaches her tenth sword cube, she thrusts it and her light sword in simultaneously, howling with something resembling hot-blooded determination (or just panicked desparation) as lasers erupt from all of those swords at once.
S6	It looks like progress is being made- and yet Ifrit continues to fight. S6 grits her teeth, taking a step back when the Primal calls forth the energy he'd collected. Going after the infernal nails seemed, at least, to interrupt the mana accumulation, and she swings her crescent axe forward to shield her face and upper body with its blade when Ifrit vents what magic he'd gathered. As the aetheric flames die down, S6's skirt hem emits another series of steam jets, venting more coolant. Scarlet lines manifest along the filigree inlay, and then the entire skirt layer explodes, scattering pieces into the blasted soil around her where they jam in place like shards of steel rather than cloth. - ALERT: VRCS SHUTDOWN IN 30 SECONDS. - - ALERT: HDS OVERLOAD. DAMAGED COMPONENTS JETTISONED. - Behind her visor, S6 skims the trio of Ifrits now. A split attack? Her attention focuses on the closest, the one most likely to charge her specifically. Her greatsword is held forward, braced with one hand. One might presume she's intent on cleaving the Primal when it charges, but she's operating on the assumption it's a bit smarter than that. All S6 wants to do is stop his forward motion. Because as soon as he does, S6 opens her arsenal and jettisons its entire contents in a point-blank shotgun blast of swords, spears, and other assorted weapons. If she can eliminate even one of the duplicated Primals, that should help the others somehow.
Vergil	The flames erupt, and Vergil is consumed. But in smashing the nails, he mitigates their intensity. Slowly, he walks from the flames, the burns he's taking regenerating instantly. In this moment, he seems more demonic than Ifrit himself, who resorts to splitting himself and dashing about to simply barrel everyone over with his bulk. "No god you. Only a wounded beast. Now die like one." As Ifrit splits, Vergil vanishes. One of the clones finds himself looking at the sole of Vergil's foot as he stomps down with superhuman strength, halting the charge before it can begin and grinding the primal's face in the dirt. And then he quickdraws over and over, the air before him shimmering as he carves into Ifrit's hide.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone is able to rush one of the strange structure destroying it. S6? Well she just turns the nail back on Ifrit there's something ditting about that and it gets him in the face. Damocles also messes up his face more and the other one is handled by Cordelay. "So a blind god..." Kotoine notes as her damaged ARMED suit is on the move again, then comes Vergil as he just well ensures non of the remaining Amalj'aa will never be an issue again. He also does a lot of damage to Ifrit as well. There's a temperature warning from her HUD this is not good, but with Verfil being proven right about the nails the damage isn't too bad though she's feeling kind of cooked inside her armour. Not wanting to risk any of her remaining ammo to cook-off? Kotone will level the cannon at Ifrit and then open fire emptying the remainder at the Magzine at the primal. and Cantio just does not stop in their own assault on the Primal. Hopefully the combined effort will be enough to finish it.
Damocles	Damocles can sense the build-up of aesthetic energy all around, and can tell what's about to happen. He plants his staff against the ground, kneels slightly, and channels as much energy as he can into a barrier around him as fast as he can. It's not as fast as he'd like, but it's what he has. When the pillar of fire explodes, the flame crashes against his barrier, and the barrier shatters. The remaining energy hits against his armor, and the armor burns underneath the intense magical fire. By the time the flame passes, Damocles stands, charred, but still very much in this fight. His glowing eyes are narrowed slightly. He's ready to finish this. Ifrit splits into three, and with a wave of his staff in the air, so does Damocles. Three Chaos sorcerers face off against the three Ifrits. When Ifrit charges the first, it pops like a bubble filled with swirling black mist. Black mist that settles into a slight haze around Ifrit. The second meets with similar fate, the illusion bursting like a bubble, leaving a cloud of black smoke that clings around Ifrit wherever he goes. The third one does not meet the attack, but teleports away just before Ifrit charges through him, leaving behind yet more clinging black fog. Damocles, meanwhile, teleports into the middle of the field. Any trace of the joking, sarcastic nature from before is gone now. He turns to Ifrit, his eyes glowing cold and hard as he stares down the demon, holding his staff threateningly forward. He calls out, his voice booming, carrying with magical resonance across the field, "ALL DEMONS ARE SUNDERED IN THE CRUCIBLE OF THE WARP! NOW, BE UNDONE BY THE IMMATERIAL!" The black fog that clings around Ifrit suddenly bursts open as Damocles swings his staff down. The dark fog flares bright as it becomes a swirling vortex of violets and blues; A twisting tornado of Warp energy that tears apart everything within. The space around the vortex roars with a soundless static, like a crackle of noise that can't be heard but still is overpoweringly loud, while the energy inside, pure Warp power, collides with the rational universe, for a moment unwriting the laws of science and magic both, to pull apart everything in a chaotic storm.
Gawain	Three Ifrits, created using what aetheric energy he can spare. He can get more. He just has to kill these threats first. The Amalj'aa left will get him more crystals. They hadn't remotely killed the entire tribe, after all. Cordelay moves to chain up on one, pull herself up with momentum, and move for the neck. Once again, a claw moves up. However, he's blinded, and not fast enough. The blade cleaves through the scale, spurting blood, causing the Ifrit to collapse, and disappear in aetheric energy. While this is happening, the other two running wildly, they're relying on sound to hunt. Cantio's attacks are coming in. They focus entirely on the very noisy attacks, and- Nothing. It's bait. Instead, she slashes into them, weakening them and causes more growls, as does Kotone's flurry of shots. S6 stands in the way. The Ifrit keeps coming, due to being literally incapable of seeing her sword in the way there. But the cleave won't kill him. The shotgun blast of weapons? That will, as he roars a death-defying howl and collapses, also disappearing into aether. One Ifrit left. The true Ifrit. Vergil kicks Ifrit's head into the dirt, and begins carving into him over and over again, severely weakening him. He's on the verge, but he just won't die, even with Vergil having the advantage of two good eyes and super regeneration. Not until the final collaborator lets loose the DPS. Vergil has several seconds to get out of the way before the warp vortex rends Ifrit, ripping into him and doing that last bit of hit-bar damage. "I shall return, and turn your souls to ash! Graaaaaaaaaagh-" The final Ifrit is due to turn into aetheric energy at any moment. His body starts to disperse. But it's not quite gone yet.
Vergil	Vergil does indeed get clear of Damocles' final Warp burst, moving in a flurry of dashes to get to the edge. He reverts to his human form with a roll of his neck, watching as Ifrit's form begins breaking down into aether. "Will you now? Then let's make that a more... interesting contest." He moves forward again, and stabs his hand into the fading Ifrit's chest. "Surrender yourself unto me Ifrit!" The aether changes course, no longer dispersing, and instead converging on Vergil. Flames begin to lick his hands and feet as the ashes reignite. Is he resummoning Ifrit to prolong the fight?! No. He's turning the primal to something else. The flames consolidate and solidify upon Vergil. Ifrit's aether has become a pair of gauntlets and boots on the demon. The gauntlets are tipped with the fire god's long nails, while the boots have one horn each jutting from the outer ankle. Vergil smirks and does a few practice jabs into swipes before spinning into a vicious, cutting roundhouse using the horn as a blade. "Hmph. Serviceable I suppose." He looks to the others and says, "Keep my share of the payment. This will cover the costs of my service."
Cordelay Levail	As two of the three Ifrits dissolve into aetheric energy and the third is moments away from the same, Cordelay lands on her feet and sheathes her blades with a small flourish. She turns just in time to see Vergil absorb the last Ifrit and smiles slightly at the sight. "An impressive display, everyone. I am honored to have fought alongside you all." She salutes her allies, the formality of the gesture marred slightly by the scorch marks on her skin and clothes and the blackened tips on portions of her hair. "We have not only defeated a mighty opponent, but saved many from its influence. This is a victory to be proud of!" For someone who was fighting so ferociously against the Primal, her expression is surprisingly bright with a smile that shines like the sun.
Cantio	Cantio pants lightly as two of the three Ifrits are brought down, and the last one is already starting to break apart before her very eyes. Instead of simply finishing off the Primal, however, she watches as Vergil does something rather curious with it. Vergil turns Ifrit into a weapon of his own, and she marvels at the strange elegance of it all. She even remembers to clap after those practice strikes! "Ve... Very good job, everyone! We stopped this situation from getting far worse than it could have, and now..." She's not going to let the opportunity to go to waste. As she transforms back into her regular form (complete with shifting wardrobe), Cantio hurries over to the tempered captives. "It's a shame we couldn't do anything about them, but..." Holding her sword near the tip, she removes one of the corpse's fingers before placing it gingerly into her not-quite-physical inventory. "With any luck, we might be able to plan better for this... Tempering process if it ever happens again." Another heavy sigh, and then Cantio gets right back to work. Everyone's injuries aren't going to heal themselves. Probably. Maybe. Unless they're demons or something.
S6	Her arsenal expended, S6 collapses to one knee. The leaking scarlet oil has since stopped, thanks to Cantio's healing, though the stain still paints a crimson trail down her side and hip and leg. As Ifrit's manifestation dissolves, she follows the energy trail as Vergil makes use of it to give himself a new weapon, skimming the data and then saving it. Around her, the discarded weapons she'd ejected begin disappearing in flickers of golden sparks. A few moments after the last ones, her sword and axe, have disappeared, her POD announces another update. - VRCS DISABLED. COMBAT OPERATIONS SUSPENDED TO MAINTAIN COGNITIVE AND MOTOR FUNCTION. - "Nnh." is her only response to Cordelay. At last, S6 returns to a normal standing posture, and after a moment she even looks steady on her feet again. "Target eliminated."
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa does some nice damage to Ifrit but it's not the killing blow, no that's more Vergil is the one who finishes this horror off. As the Primal screams about it being back. "You think we won't be here?" She backs off as the Primal for lack of a better term start to die. "We may want to target those who'd summon him in the first place." Kotone looks like she's done fighting her power armour clearly does need repairs and she is more than a little cooked. If S6 needs a hand she will help her get back to base.
Gawain	Ifrit is turned into gauntlets and boots by Vergil's power, instead of returning to whence he came. He's gone. Cantio gets a finger (it is, unfortunately, just a finger according to conventional tests). The money is fair for what they just did, and they've done a good thing. Hopefully, more Primals aren't summoned anytime soon. TRIAL COMPLETE - THE BOWL OF EMBERS